


SephiRoss

by DrNeverland



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Flirting, Lack of Communication, M/M, Pre-Slash, keeping secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 14:44:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7176155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrNeverland/pseuds/DrNeverland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sephiroth has been keeping a secret from Cloud. Where has he been going? The curiosity is killing Cloud.</p>
            </blockquote>





	SephiRoss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lyriumsong (Hinata_Akiama)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinata_Akiama/gifts).



Cloud knew that Sephiroth took time for himself. At least once a week, he was gone for a couple of hours on Thursdays, with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a promise to be back later. He was always back when he said he would be, but he never told Cloud where he was going.

Normally, Cloud would just allow this to happen; people had things they needed to do. Maybe Sephiroth had made a friend. Or had a romantic interest… but while he came back relaxed and more conversational, Sephiroth also came back reeking of chemicals and picking at this blackish material under his fingernails. Occasionally, he traveled with a large black satchel, which might have been for a laptop… if Sephiroth had managed to find a laptop around two feet wide.

All and all, whatever Sephiroth was doing made Cloud very curious. Yet, he did not want to pry into Sephiroth’s business, so Cloud tried to drop hints, to see where he was going, what he was doing, who he might have been seeing.

“So, plans for Thursday?” Cloud would ask.

“Only my usual outing.” Sephiroth jotted something down in a small notebook he kept beside him. He glanced Cloud’s way and gave a mysterious smirk.

“Well… do you need me to pick anything up for you?” Cloud hedged, trying to glance at the notebook before Sephiroth tucked it into the back pocket of his jeans.

“Actually, I am quite well equipped where I’m going, but thank you.”

Cloud would nod at Sephiroth’s polite declination; go back to whatever he was eating. Sometimes, Cloud would be working in his garage, and Sephiroth would come and sit by Cloud’s workbench with his little notebook, writing something out in pencil, but he would hardly say a word.

Except for “Just do what you’re doing. Ignore me.”

Cloud would feel heat crawling up his neck and shoulders, which Cloud realized was from Sephiroth’s presence, watching him work. Sometimes staring.

“Warm in here…” Cloud muttered, pulling off his shirt.

“You are working hard,” Sephiroth would comment over the sounds of his pencil scratching across the paper.

For weeks, they had fallen into a weird routine, of Cloud doing chores, or just sitting and watching TV, and Sephiroth would park himself at the end of the couch, or nearby, and observe him.

 

“I think he’s studying me,” Cloud muttered over the phone. It was another Thursday, Sephiroth had left for… _wherever,_ and Cloud was on the phone with Tifa.

“I think you’re being paranoid. Unless he’s also sharpening a sword menacingly?” Tifa teased.

“No… maybe he plans on stabbing me with his pencil.”

“Stranger things have happened. Especially to you,” said Tifa. Cloud did not appreciate the mirth in her voice at his expense. “But, if it’s really bugging you, why don’t you just _ask_ him what he’s doing? He’s been working on the whole honesty thing…”

Cloud huffed. “That doesn’t mean he will answer me. He’s been pretty elusive.”

Tifa tutted on the other end. “Or maybe you’re making _him_ feel paranoid. You both have to learn to communicate better.”

“Ugh…” Cloud groaned and flopped back on his bed. “You’re still gonna pick on me, when Sephiroth could be plotting my demise. He’s probably taking notes on where and how to bury me.”

“At least he’s planning. He could just leave you somewhere to rot.”

“TI! You’re not helping!”

“Well! You’re not making it easy. Either you talk to him and ask for the truth, or go snooping in his room, discover the truth and end up hating yourself for it. Because you know that’s what’s going to happen. You’re gonna find out what he’s doing and it’ll probably be something innocent and you’ll feel like a real asshole for doubting him. So just. Do something already. Call me when you figured it out. Or when you feel guilty as hell.”

Cloud groaned again. “Bye, Tifa.”

“Bye, Cloud. Don’t be a dick, now.”

 

Cloud bounced his knee, watching the front door. He had decided to be a dick, and he knew it was going to bite him in the ass, but confronting Sephiroth over what he had been so secretive over had made Cloud more nervous than what he was doing.

In an effort to be slick, Cloud had decided to do the laundry. Which included their bedclothes. Sephiroth never had felt the need to lock his bedroom door – _he might now, you asshole_ \- Cloud felt his conscience mutter at him as he collected the sheets and Sephiroth’s blanket.

“Nothing…” Cloud murmured to himself. Throwing the bedclothes in the laundry basket, he pulled the pillows out from their cases, still finding nothing. However, in the attempt to shake a pillow free, he knocked down the water glass that Sephiroth had kept beside his bed.

“Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit…” Cloud retreated to the kitchen for the broom and dustpan, as well as a garbage bag. “He really is gonna kill me…”

Reaching underneath the bed for shards of glass, Cloud’s fingers brushed over leather. Once he got the pieces out and swept into the bag, Cloud again reached beneath the bed again, his hand encountering the satchel Sephiroth had stowed away.

On his knees, Cloud pulled the case out and ran his fingers over the surface. _This is it… I’m gonna be that asshole roommate… I’m gonna invade his privacy… I’m gonna hate myself and he’s gonna know._ Cloud took a deep breath and shook his head.

“I’m an asshole… I’m an asshole… I’m invading his privacy and he’s gonna be super pissed and I’m already angry at me…”

“Well, I’m not pissed, but I _am_ disappointed.”

Cloud jumped out of his skin at the voice behind him. He had been too wrapped up in his own doubt and self-loathing to even hear the front door open and close. Covering his face, Cloud groaned and bent over the satchel in his lap.

“I’m so sorry. I just…”

Cloud felt Sephiroth come sit on the floor behind him. He could smell… whatever chemicals Sephiroth had been using, as well as coffee. A cup appeared in Cloud’s line of sight as Sephiroth set his drink down in the space between the bed and his nightstand.

“You couldn’t help yourself. I probably wasn’t much of a help, not explaining what I was doing.”

Cloud groaned and leaned back into Sephiroth’s chest. “I’m big wuss. I couldn’t just… _ask_.” Sephiroth’s arms wound around Cloud’s midsection and pulled him back into Sephiroth’s lap.

“Well, you’ve found the mysterious treasure chest. You might as well open it,” Sephiroth murmured.

“Now that you’re giving me permission, I don’t want to.”

Sephiroth chuckled into Cloud’s ear and pulled the satchel closer. “Well, then I _don’t_ give you permission to open it, and I’m not here. After all, wouldn’t want to ruin your life-changing discovery.”

Cloud sighed and leaned back when Sephiroth did. “You’re gonna make a big deal about this, aren’t you?”

“I think a big deal has already been made. After all, I wasn’t the one calling you an ‘asshole.’ You took care of that yourself.”

“Seph.”

“Cloud, just open it.”

Cloud nodded and leaned forward. He unzipped the satchel and reached inside. He felt a wooden frame, and something stapled to it. Pulling the object out, Cloud sat up with a painting in his hands. It looked like…

“Is that the Junon coast?”

“More or less,” Sephiroth replied.

“You painted this?”

“I did.”

Cloud put the painting on Sephiroth’s bed and turned in his lap. “This whole time… you were taking art lessons?”

“Art therapy, but yes.”

Cloud frowned and picked up one of Sephiroth’s hands. “So…”

“Oil painting. I suppose reeking of linseed isn’t the most… attractive odor.” Sephiroth let Cloud turn over his hand and examine it. “Sometimes, we work in other media, like charcoal or graphite…”

“An art therapy class… Why wouldn’t you tell me?” Cloud looked up, trying his best to not look hurt; after all, he had been the one who snuck into Sephiroth’s room.

Sephiroth retrieved his hand and shrugged. “I wanted to keep it to myself. I never really saw much use in art… personally. Hojo had more… practical applications in mind.”

“Hey, art’s practical.”

Sephiroth smirked and nodded. “I understand that now. It gives me something to focus on. Something I don’t have to worry about perfecting.”

Cloud’s eyebrows shot up. “Not worry about? You painted Junon coast from memory.”

“I had my phone.”

“Okay, from the _internet_.” Cloud snorted. “So, if you’re not always painting landscapes, what else do you do?”

“I sketch. Still life, mostly. But…” Sephiroth twisted and pulled out his thin little notebook from his back pocket. “I do have a favorite subject.” He handed the small journal over and Cloud took it from him.

Turning the black book over in his fingers, Cloud thought about it. All those times Sephiroth sat nearby…

“Me? You were drawing me?”

“Sketching, but yes.”

Cloud felt a blush blooming across his cheeks and right to the tips of his ears. “I’m your favorite subject…” he said, a smile creeping over his face. He opened the small sketchbook and looked over the small doodles of himself… the beginning ones were awful, amateur works Cloud would have easily ascribed to a beginner, but a few pages in, the quality surged as Sephiroth’s skill improved. In between images of canisters from Cloud’s garage, or bottles clearly from Tifa’s bar were thumbnails of Cloud, some only recognizable by the spikes representing his hair.

“You are.” Sephiroth sat up and leaned over Cloud as he thumbed through the sketch diary. “That one is actually my third I’ve been using. All the supplies are available at the teacher’s studio, so much of them I’ve purchased through him.”

Cloud stopped on a particular sketch, one that took up the entirety of two pages. It had started in pencil, but was colored in with ballpoint pen and thin marker. It was a close-up of Cloud’s eyes, so well detailed, Cloud wondered if Sephiroth had a picture somewhere...

“When… I mean, how?” Cloud gingerly touched the paper near his eyes, reading his own expression in the paper. He looked… fierce, angry…

“Our last physical altercation,” Sephiroth explained, answering a question that was not there to begin with. “Your eyes convey so much,” he continued, voice dropping to soft reverence that Cloud was certain he did not deserve. Not right then, anyway.

Cloud felt a lump in his throat forming. “I… am flattered…” he whispered.

“Mm, now that the mystery is solved, there is still a matter of punishment.”

Cloud looked up suddenly, confused. “Wait, you said I could look-“

“Yes, but you still entered my room while I was out. A serious breach of my faith in you, Cloud.” Sephiroth sounded serious, but a smile formed across his lips that made Cloud twitch nervously. “And you broke my glass.”

“I can buy you another-“

“Pose for me.”

Cloud blinked and his mouth fell open. “P-pose? For you?”

“Yes. I’d like to work on my life drawing skills… improve my ability beyond simply sketching your face. And models are rather expensive to hire…” Sephiroth’s smile was almost, _almost_ predatory, but his tone felt playful. “Especially ones that pose in the nude.”

“I…oh.” Cloud licked his lips. His whole body was warm now. “Nude?”

Sephiroth raised a brow. “You’ve seen me naked. More than once. And invaded my privacy. This is the price you have to pay.” Sephiroth pushed off his palms and leaned up close to Cloud’s face. “Don’t tell me you’re shy… Cloud.”

Shaking his head, Cloud felt his heart fluttering in his chest. “I’m not shy… I just wonder if your skills are good enough to render me properly,” he said, trying to sound challenging. However, Cloud heard his own voice squeak at the end.

“Mm, you’ll have to undress and make yourself comfortable. Models have to pose for a long time. Wouldn’t want to wear you out early,” Sephiroth murmured.

Feeling Sephiroth’s breath over his lips, Cloud bolstered himself and pulled away. A small thrill of victory danced up his spine when Sephiroth had leaned closer, only to be left hanging. “Better warm up that drawing hand, then. Don’t want _you_ getting worn out, either.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written in part for lyriumsong/cloud-song, who has been sick but has been trying to keep my spirits up in regards to writing. This is just a cute little thing, not really meant to fit in with the big story I've been working on, so it's only semi-related...ish... Partially inspired by the Bob Ross marathons on Twitch.


End file.
